What Happened to the Tea Party?

Introduction

Philip Scott Andrews/The New York TimesOnce Herman Cain stepped out of the race, many Tea Party activists were left struggling to find a candidate to fight for.

In 2010, the Tea Party was all the rage. Pundits were speculating on what effect the movement would have on state and federal elections. But we are well into the presidential campaign season, the conventions are just around the corner, and yet the Tea Party is strangely silent.

What happened to the movement? Have its “goals and values” been absorbed into the G.O.P.? Or was it always the Republican Party in disguise?